Early to Rise
by FarmerRosie
Summary: Josie just wanted to live a nice, quiet, peaceful life out in the country. When she bought a farm and moved to the small village of Mineral Town, she found a lot more than she was looking for. Cliff x OC.


**Okay, there's so much to say, but I don't want to waste your time in this part, I want you to get to the good stuff.**

**Where to start? This story is based on the gameboy advance More Friends of Mineral Town version of Harvest Moon. I have changed a few things to make it more realistic, but otherwise, it should follow the sequence of the game. **

**I will try my best to eliminate spelling and grammatical errors. If you notice one of these mistakes, don't chew me out for it. I probably didn't notice because I was typing so fast. But if you find I keep making the same mistakes consistently, let me know. I'm not perfect and I learn new things every day.**

**With the above statement, I'm not a great writer, but I'm improving every day. Constructive criticism is always welcome.**

**And as a final note, I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the locations or characters... but it'd be really cool if I did! Enjoy the story!**

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The crisp fresh air of the country filled the young woman's lungs. Strands of her long, blonde hair fluttered around her face as a gentle breeze lifted it off her shoulders. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the sun warm her features, before opening them again and taking in the landscape around her. There was a quaint little farm house just a ways away. It looked barely large enough for one person to live in, and it was old and beat up, but it was cute.

'Besides, I can always fix it up and add to it later if I need to,' she thought to herself.

Some of the other buildings around included a barn, stable, chicken coop, and windmill, all of which also appeared to be in need of repair.

She walked across the lush green grass to get a better look at what the advertisement had described as high quality fields…

'…'

Maybe she was at the wrong place. Yeah, that's it! That's why these fields were so barren and strewn with debris. The farm that she bought, the one with the 'exceptional' fields, must be somewhere else in town. Just as she was turning to leave, a rather short and stout man wearing a red top hat entered the farm land at a brisk pace.

"Hey you! You there! Yes you!" he shouted, still a distance away. When he finally reached her, he paused, taking deep breaths.

"What do you think you are doing here? The previous owner of this farm passed away just a few months ago. Have you no respect for the dead?"

The girl was quite taken aback, but immediately apologized, "I'm sorry! I bought a farm in this town, but I think this is the wrong one. If you could tell me which way to go to get to the other one, I'll be on my way."

The man stared at her for a bit, "You bought the farm? Oh ho ho! That's grand! Oh ho ho!" he started laughing uncontrollably and the girl gave him an angry look, ticked off that he was laughing at her. His laughter soon turned into a fit of coughing as he had not yet regained his regular breathing pattern since his earlier physical exertion.

Once he was able to speak again, the man said, "Well, I'm sorry, but this is the only farm for sale in town. You can try to find another one, but it will be a long, hard search and only turn up disappointing results."

Now the girl was very confused, "I don't understand. The advertisement I read described the farm as well kept and capable of bringing in a prosperous harvest."

"Yes, but you know how advertisements are. They always try to make things sound better than they truly are," he explained, "Farming isn't as popular a trade as it once was, though it is very necessary. This farm has been on the market for several months now, but never had a taker. I know this isn't what you were expecting when you came out here, and I'll understand if you would rather go back to your previous life, but if you want it, the farm is yours.

The man was certainly right when he said it wasn't what she had been expecting. When she packed up everything and left her home, she had thought she would come out to enjoy a relaxing and simple life in the country. Boy was she wrong! It would not be an easy task reviving this farm that looked as if it had been through hell… twice! Part of her wanted to walk right off this patch of dirt in the middle of nowhere to go back to her old life, but the other part of her, the stronger part, wanted to see if she was up to the challenge of owning a farm.

"Okay, I'll do it! I'll work hard to make this farm better than it's ever been!"

The man looked genuinely happy, "Excellent! Glad to hear it! Oh, silly me! Where are my manners? My name is Thomas and I am the mayor here in Mineral Town. I don't believe I caught your name?"

"Oh right! Sorry. I'm Josie."

"Josie then, what a lovely name! Welcome to Mineral Town! I wish you the best of luck running this farm… which still needs a name now that I think of it. Well, you can come up with a good one later. If you need anything, anything at all, let me know. I'm sure the other townspeople will be glad to help in any way they can also. I'll let you be now. You probably have a lot of unpacking and settling in to do. Tomorrow morning I'll check in to give you a little more advice. Toodles!"

With that, Mayor Thomas did a little skip and exited the property.

'What a strange little man,' Josie thought, "If he's anything like the other town members though, they seem like a nice bunch.'

Spinning in a complete circle, Josie took a 360 degree view of the entire farm. This whole land belonged to her now. She would be able to grow crops, take care of animals… and maybe even start a family. What a silly thought!

She looked over at the small puppy that had followed her here from the train station. She had named him according to the color of his fur.

"Well Rusty, what do you think? Do you want to check out your new home?"

He raised his nose up from the small hole in the ground he had been sniffing at and barked his approval. The two of them walked toward the house that was now their home.


End file.
